This piece originally appeared at Statutory Alpha.
I love the website wtfhappenedin1971.com. The site has no adornment, and barely any formatting. Its only offering is a barrage of charts that coincide with the early 70s, each showing a break in some major trend. Some are worrisome—the divergence between productivity and median wages; some are simply funny—who knew 1971 would be such a bad year for chickens?; and all are interesting.1 But each time I visit, I find myself coming back to the chart of the number of lawyers in America, and I suspect it is one of the most underrated features of American government today.
As seen above, the number of lawyers in the US has skyrocketed since 1971.
US politics is dominated by lawyers and the legal system to an extent that is almost unique in the developed world.3 Our public officials, laws, and society are shaped not just by individual lawyers, but by a system of thought that, through its quirks, constrains what government can and cannot be. Nearly everyone has had a personal experience with the consequences of this mode of thought. Sometimes it's a “Caution: Slippery When Wet” sign on a dry floor. Other times it's a plaintiff abusing the Americans with Disabilities Act to bankrupt a small business.
My goal with Statutory Alpha is to examine how that system is changing, and how AI technology can reform it for the better.
